Funny ISP

[Miagi]

Got this in my email:

Dear Valued Verizon Online DSL Member,

Thank you for choosing Verizon Online DSL as your Internet service provider.

Please note, starting February 20, 2005, you will begin seeing a monthly Tax Recovery Fee on your DSL service bill.  This is not a tax charged directly to Verizon Online's customers, but the partial recovery of tax that Verizon Online must pay when they purchase the DSL circuit from the telephone company.

This fee will be eliminated after the recently passed expansion of the Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act becomes effective in November 2005 until November 2007.  Since this is not a direct tax but is the recovery of a tax paid by Verizon Online, there are no applicable exemptions. More information is available online at www.verizon.net/myaccount.

We appreciate and value your business.

Sincerely,

Verizon Online
Broadband Customer Care Team

Well, thank god they passed that act. Hopefully I can get cable when I move in June, don't know what I'll do if there's no highspeed access :o.

When they say: "this is not a direct tax but is the recovery of a tax paid by Verizon Online"

Isn't that really the same thing?

[Wha?]

No. It's them saying "Hey, why don't we just divide the tax we pay by the number of subscribers, and bill everybody for that? Zero loss!". Surprised they aren't trying to turn a profit on it.

[Miagi]

Now that you said that, they will probably charge for the extra ink that they have to use to print the "tax recovery info" on the bill.

[fritoman]

If I were to have someone pay my taxes for me the goverment would charge me a tax for have someone pay it for me, calling it a "gift tax".